Bedtime Facts (174/365)

in bedtime-facts •  6 years ago  (edited)

The first nuclear bomb was detonated in New Mexico on July 16 1945

The test was part of the US government's Manhattan Project whose goal was to develop nuclear weapons before the Nazi Germany could do it. The device tested was of the same design as the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, an implosion type plutonium bomb. At their core, such bombs have a hollow plutonium sphere covered with honey comb shaped chemical explosives from every direction. When the chemical explosives are detonated at precisely the same time, the sphere is crushed into a solid one and critical mass is attained. Critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material enabling sustained nuclear chain reaction. It depends on the shape of the object which is why it is always a sphere in bombs because critical mass is at its smallest for a spherical object. The fissile material in question was Plutonium-239

The Hiroshima bomb did not need to be tested as badly as the Nagasaki bomb because it was a so-called gun type device where two hemispheres made up of bomb-grade enriched uranium (of which at least 20% is the fissile isotope Uranium-235) are fired using chemical explosives from the opposite ends of a metal tube causing them to meet in the middle. The hemispheres stay together long enough for the chain reaction to have time to produce a significant energy yield for a bomb.

Plutonium bombs have better energy yields per unit of mass but Pu-239 has to be made in a nuclear reactor. Uranium ore occurring in nature contains only 0.7% of U-235 but because naturally occurring Uranium is nearly entirely U-238 which has three neutrons more than U-235, it is easier to separate. Because of the ubiquity of uranium in the Earth's crust, the relative ease of enrichment and the ease and low cost of bomb construction, gun type uranium bombs are the weapon of choice of all aspiring nuclear power such as North Korea.

Here's footage of the Nagasaki bomb, code name Fat Man:

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I mention in Venezuela there are large deposits of Uranium proven, But the worst thing is that this government of miserable communists are suppliers of that material to Iran. China and Russia That's a secret to Voces here in Venezuela. The worst of the worst is that they leave through the airport, which are the exclusive use of government communists.

I didn't know Venezuela was an exporter of uranium to Iran. Why does Iran bother to buy it from abroad? It doesn't take much to build a bomb. But Iran has a nuclear power program, too. Presumably Venezuelan uranium easier and cheaper to extract than Iranian.

They are pure political businesses, here it is very easy to extract, and it is a sale that makes it a type of contraband, and at the same time Iran is an intermediary for other communist countries, North Korea example.

another product that is obtained is the Thorium and Venezuela could be in the fifth place in the world with greater reserves of thorium

This was a very important part of the war. If the Germans had got it first there would have been a different outcome. The biggest leaps in technology advancement happen because of the need to out do each other in war.

Nuclear weapons were definitely strategically important. But one should remember that a nuclear weapon is useless unless it can be delivered to its target. The Luftwaffe was nearly completely destroyed by 1945. V2 was not operational and the launch sites of V1 missiles from where a V1 carrying a nuclear bomb could be launched with, say, London as its target were in Allied hands by that time. Of course, Hitler was anxious to destroy whatever he could, including Germany itself when the end was near, so German possession of nuclear weapons would've been extremely dangerous at any stage of the war.

Earlier attainment of nuclear weapons by the Nazis would probably have changed the course of the war. The Nazi's anti-semitism really bit them in the arse because they had driven many top physicists out of the country before the war because they were Jewish.

I have visited some of the V1 and V2 rocket sites in France. The site is called La Coupelle. Worth a visit as it has been done properly. There is a bunker nearby which is still 90 percent intact. The same guy who designed the bouncing bomb developed a bomb that takes out foundations. This is what they used on this large bunker.

I used to read and watch documentaries of wars and weapons of mass destruction (among other topics) and I shared it with the friend I spoke to you the other day. When I asked him: How are you? What have you done?... and he responded (joking): "Nothing important, I was enriching uranium in the backyard of my house"... and even he does!... 😆

This is why I love history ,because it opens our eyes towards remembering the past experience and we will fine a lasting way to curb it so that the mistake of the past will not repeat itself again

Yay. I learned something new today. I have heard of the Manhattan project but I never knew what it was. Here's a weird fact for you. A town named Dildo. You can write about it if you want. I have 7or 8 more blogs written on strange facts. Waiting to upload them. Maybe we can inspire each other. Everything from pigs 30 minute orgasms to exploding testicles. I uploaded one about killer vending machines about a week ago. Did you know the Vatican city drinks more wine than any other country? Oh yeah. Here's that Dildo one.

Https://steemit.com/strange/@big.ock/worlds-largest-dildo

Very deathly technology indeed. The technical aspects of it are a little hard to understand but valuable information.